Police: Abington man made bombs to clear snow

An Abington man is being charged with creating bombs at his former address in Abington after police had been told the man was blowing up snow banks to avoid shoveling the snow.

Seth Jacobson

An Abington man is being charged with creating bombs at his former address in Abington after police had been told the man was blowing up snow banks to avoid shoveling the snow.

Abington Police Chief David Majenski said Leo J. Powers, 23, with a last known address of 45 Margaret Road, Abington, is being charged with threats to commit a crime and possession of incendiary devices.

After serving Powers with an emergency restraining order at a rooming house he was staying in on Washington Street in Abington, police learned Powers had a box of ammunition and a box with “some sort of powder” in it at his former address, according to Majenski.

According to Majenski, police were told Powers had devised a way to use the materials to blow up snow banks instead of shoveling the snow and had been doing it for some time.

Majenski said when police and fire officials arrived at the house, the discovered a container filled with “military-grade ammunition and other stuff, including powders of some sort.”

The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad was called in and the power was sent to a lab for testing.

“The results came back Saturday morning that the powder was indeed an explosive material,” Majenski said.

Powers was not arrested that night because police were not sure that the powder was explosive. They needed to get it tested first. But Majenski said Powers will soon be summonsed to court on the charges filed by the police department.

Powers, who has a firearms license, was told he needed to surrender all his weapons. He handed over a pistol and a shotgun to police, according to Majenski.

“And I have revoked his license to carry,” Majenski said. “Meanwhile, we’re investigating where he got all the weapons we confiscated and the powder. He said he got them at gun shows in Springfield but we are looking into that.”